February 2012 – A star formation laboratory

Galaxy NGC 4214 is an ideal location for studying star formation and evolution. Dominating much of the galaxy is a huge glowing cloud of hydrogen gas in which new stars are being born. At the centre of the cloud is a heart-shaped hollow, host to a large cluster of hot, young stars. Strong stellar winds from these young stars are responsible for the creation of the bubble, but they also also remove gas from the active regions, thus stemming any further star formation.